


quilting bee

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 01:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20857754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: "We're going to knock you out - do you trust us?"Frank didn't answer, didn't protest but more importantly, his hand didn't shake when he clasped Matt's chin in his fingers leaving a smear of blood.  "Don't let me wake up dead in front of Karen."*prompt #1 - whumptober - shaky hands





	quilting bee

She liked to think she was cool under pressure. But everybody probably liked to think that. She could make a phone call to 9-1-1 without sounding shrill and terrified, she could take three steps across a room without worrying about tracked blood, she could triage a gushing wound without taking the knife out.

She wasn't a coward, she wasn't someone who lost their shit at the drop of a hat. She made Hell's Kitchen her home, made her family out of dangerous people who would die or kill for the right thing - she made her choices to have a life here.

Her life, her family, her home - her choices - they got her here and she was going to keep it fucking together. She wasn't scared, she wasn't frightened. She didn't need to cry on a big strong man's shoulder or collapse into her best girlfriend's arms for a hug - she was tough. She made that choice with all the rest.

_"Karen."_

She was tough. She was cool-headed and hard-hearted. She was brave. She would not fucking wuss out, not here, not today, not - not when her friends - her family - the one that loved her back - needed her.

_"On three."_

She was ready. Her hands didn't shake, wouldn't shake, not a tremble, not when he screamed into the belt clamped between his teeth, not a shiver when she slammed a palm over the soggy rag on his back and crushed a clean one over the gaping crater in the front. She held him together between her fingers, each heartbeat pushing heat into her steady - steady as fuck thank you very much - steady hands.

_"Shh."_

She hadn't said anything since she sent the cops and emergency services in the opposite direction, not a word since she followed the havoc into the bathroom but maybe - okay sure - she could hold her breath to make it quieter.

"Thank you - Frank, we need to - "

"Cauterize - "

"No - "

"Breathe, Karen - "

Right. Matt's suggestion was much better than Frank's.

"We're going to knock you out - do you trust us?"

Frank didn't answer, didn't protest but more importantly, his hand didn't shake when he clasped Matt's chin in his fingers leaving a smear of blood. "Don't let me wake up dead in front of Karen."

* * *

The beers clinked when Foggy grabbed three from the fridge instead of remembering the 'library voice' rule that Karen or Matt, as if it mattered who made it when he would follow it anyway. Well, except for clinking beers.

"You okay?" Karen asked, stepping out of Matt's room.

Was he okay? She was the one that helped Matt sew Frank up like a taxidermist, she was the one that stuck them with needles so they could share blood , she was the one that had blood streaked in her freshly showered hair.

Was he okay? "Sure." He held out a beer. "I think I need a hug, maybe?"

"You're much easier to please than those two assholes in the back," she smiled, wrapping her thin arms around his torso. She smelled like Matt's shampoo and he strummed his hand through her hair, swiping at the streak of red she'd missed. Her hair was still wet enough that it worked and he twisted the length into a loose ponytail.

"There, gave you one of Marci's beer-drinking 'do's."

She held on a moment longer than he needed and laughed into his shoulder before she leaned back. "You sure it's Marci's and not from your own hair history?"

Foggy squeezed her hands before he let her go. She was steady, their anchor, their rock and it was past time they started treating her like it. "I'd need a scrunchy for that, we'll check Matt's room."

"You sure? You got a little shaky in there," she said in full library voice.

"Between the blood, the shirtlessness and battle damage I saw in the few minutes I lasted, I'm glad you can call it 'little'," Foggy sighed. "How are you used to this already?"

She frowned. "I'm not. But they saved kids tonight, it's all over the news."

"Did you know they were going?" Foggy whispered.

"No, he didn't call me until after he was already over his head," Matt said, oversized hoodie left open, but making an effort not to flash his blatant and horrific scars in Foggy's direction. He stumbled.

Foggy inhaled to scold him for being on his feet so soon after a bloodletting but the look on Matt's face shut him up.

* * *

Jessica didn't jump when Matt opened the door to his apartment before they had a chance to knock. She didn't freeze when she saw the neat stitches in a jagged line across his hipline. She didn't gasp when she processed the color of his skin in pale contrast to the color of his white bandages.

Luke's hand folded over her arm like she'd gone blind and needed a guide.

"Is - " Matt started, sinking back into Nelson and Page's waiting support.

God, she missed support like that. Unconditional forgiveness for inevitable and infinite fuck-ups. Family. She missed -

"Kids are all safe, that's what took so long," Luke said, his voice sending tremors of warmth through her body from his size and his proximity.

Families were warm. Safe. Those kids would go home to their families.

"Jess." Matt's voice didn't bring the same warmth, it was a flash burn that shocked her out of her moment enough to slide her arms around him.

"Did you know they had - kids?"

"No, neither did he," Matt replied into her hair, leaning against her instead of his tag-team handlers. "He should have called me before he went in, he could have warned me that he was going up against - whatever - but at least, at fucking least, he called me when he saw the first kid."

"Is he all right? There's a lot of blood on the sidewalk. And the stairs. And - " Luke started.

She shook out of the hug but didn't let go, taking his wrists. "You need to lie down and I need to see that asshole for myself."

"Are you seriously wearing his hoodie like a lovesick teenager?" Luke asked while she marched him past Nelson with Page on their six.

Matt fumbled with the zipper, petulant but didn't deny anything. Ha. "Foggy doesn't like to see," he said softly, quivering fingers finally notching the zipper up enough to dim the headlights.

She lost track of Luke and the lawyers when she saw Castle - not Frank - first names meant friends and she didn't - couldn't - fuck - he was a hot mess. If Murdock thought the patchwork scars across his body were something to hide, she wondered how he laid hands on the roadmap of marks that covered the Punisher.

She was glad she hadn't been here to witness whatever was under the thick bandages wrapped around his shoulder - to know whatever left so much blood - to be responsible for knitting flesh back together with needle and thread.

"Jess."

She wasn't here when they needed her. "I'm sorry - "

"Why? You came when we needed you. There's nothing to apologize for, not tonight," Matt said, his hand drifting past her elbow, her shoulder, her chin to tap her nose. "Thank you for talking to the cops."

"Did you just 'boop' her?" Frank's eyes fluttered, flickered, to life, watching them darkly.

She exhaled, Castle's voice seeping into her like honey, slow and lazy and fucking warm. "You're both assholes."

"You can have my beer if you bring me a water," Matt said, smiling when she caught his hand before he could 'boop' her again.

"She can have a beer anyway," Page jumped in, urging Matt back to the free side of the bed and motioning to the mess of a saline bag he'd left behind to greet them.

Bastard made such an effort to meet them at the door instead of letting his friends do it - either he wanted to make them jump or he was genuinely worried.

Luke was bulletproof and she could almost fly. Matt was a bastard.

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't come out the way I intended when I started. I'm not sure what it is, but it's definitely not what it's supposed to be. Happy October anyway!


End file.
